Thesis (BS Food Technology) -- University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2011

Eight Monascus strains were used to screen for the production of lovastatin, a cholesterol lowering agent using the submerged fermentation technique. The screening was done by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and the confirmation and quantification by Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). The lovastatin analysis of the eight strains in TLC and HPLC was confirmed by their identity with that of standard lovastatin. The concentration of lovastatin produced by these strains were considerably varied. Results revealed that M. purpureus, Went JCM 6934 produced the highest lovastatin (84.85ppm) followed by M. puppureus UPLB-MNH-MCC 2108 (38.9 ppm), M. purpureus UPLB-MNH-MCC 2106 (35.84 ppm), Monascus sp. UPLB-MNH-MCC 2197 (27.71 ppm), M. anka, M=Nakazawa and Saito UPLB-MNH-MCC 2105 (24.53 ppm), Monascus sp. UPLB-MNH-MCC 2196 (22.34 ppm), M. purpureus, Went JCM 22621 (15.4 ppm) with M. purpureus, went JCM 22616 producing the least lovastatin content (10.75 pp,). The production of these strains were comparable to other known lovastatin-producing fungi of the genera Aspergilus and Penicillium. Angkak rice, or rice fermented with Monascus, was also extracted and detected for the presence of lovastatin usng TLC. Result showed that lovastatin, with comparison to a standard, was detected in angkak rice denoting that lovastatin could be a characteristic constituent of angkak rice.